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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Restructuring Non-Metropolitan Local Government in South Africa |
Author: | Pycroft, Christopher |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Public Administration and Development |
Volume: | 19 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | May |
Pages: | 179-192 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | democracy municipal government Politics and Government Development and Technology |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-162X(199905)19:2<179::AID-PAD61>3.0.CO;2-6 |
Abstract: | South Africa's first local government elections held in November 1995 and June 1996 cemented the transition from apartheid to democratic local government. Local government since then has failed to fulfil its mandate as the delivery arm of government, nor has the hoped-for rapid transformation of the local sphere of government materialized. In seeking an explanation for this perceived inadequacy, attention has tended to focus on the limited financial and administrative capacity of newly elected councillors and council staff. Although the lack of capacity does present a barrier to the achievement of effective local government, the constraints municipalities encounter in their geographic composition and administrative formation provide the structural dimension of municipal constraint. The March 1998 White Paper on Local Government seeks to address these structural constraints and, through an ambitious legislative process, chart a path to 'developmental' local government. This paper identifies the constraints experienced by non-metropolitan municipalities and analyses the likely impact of the government's restructuring programme for the achievement of viable and sustainable local government in South Africa. Bibliogr., sum. |